New tenants in the Garden – a white stork and a black stork

Two wounded storks arrived at the Zoological Garden – a white stork and a black stork. The two arrived from the Wildlife Hospital at the Safari, after having been treated and rehabilitated.

Neither of them can fly due to permanent damage to their wings, and they are now in the water birds' enclosure, in the northern part of the Garden, together with white-eyed gulls, northern bald ibises, spoonbills, and the other enclosure tenants. The water birds' enclosure serves as a temporary habituation station for the storks, which will later be released onto the main grass in the middle of the Garden. From past experience, storks that are released onto the main grass as soon as they arrive in the Garden tend to panic, hide, be afraid to come out to feed, and eventually might even starve to death. Therefore, we now gradually habituate them to their new home: at first they are kept in a closed enclosure, like that of the water birds, where they can't escape or hide from their keeper. The keeper observes their behavior and makes sure that they feed properly. When they are ready, they are released onto the main grass. And how do we know that a stork is ready to be released? When it begins to approach the keeper and waits to be fed by him.